Marine School Lands a New President

John V. Caron is The Landing School’s new president and the school’s first leader with a doctorate in education and experience at multiple universities. Photo courtesy The Landing School

“New” is a word that crops up frequently these days at The Landing School of Boatbuilding & Design. The Arundel campus is launching an aggressive new growth phase, with new vision, new goals, and a new president, John V. Caron. He is the school’s first leader with a doctorate in education, as well as years of professional experience at multiple universities.

While Caron grew up sailing with his grandfather in Rhode Island, he doesn’t have a traditional marine industry background—or even own a boat. What he does have is 30 years of experience in strategic planning, innovative program development, and working with nontraditional students of all ages.

Caron has spent decades helping students who sought new or unique hands-on career paths. Likewise, many students at The Landing School “are older and have had a passion or connection to sailing and boating but didn’t know the pathway to a career in the marine industry,” he noted during a recent interview.

“We have a great mission,” Caron (pronounced Karen) said “with a great reputation among employers.” He added that the mission of the school—to educate and train people for employment in the marine industry worldwide—will not change under his leadership.

But the vision will.

Caron took over as president on July 1, 2024 and he talked about his background and eagerly shared his top goals: increase enrollment, grow the school’s endowment, and “really, importantly” re-engage alumni.

A native of Bristol, Rhode Island, Caron is a graduate of Providence College, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Pennsylvania’s executive doctorate program.

He succeeds Sean Fawcett, who now is with East Coast Yacht Sales.

The Landing School offers eight-month diplomas in wooden boatbuilding, yacht design, marine systems, and composite boatbuilding. An associate degree in marine industry technology and yacht design also is available. The nonprofit school, founded in 1978 in Arundel, is the oldest operating institution of its type and the first to be accredited.

Caron has held senior administrative roles at multiple schools, including Brown, Northeastern, Johns Hopkins, Endicott, and Excelsior. Throughout his career he has been an associate dean, senior associate dean, vice president of academic affairs, and provost.

In between academic positions, he worked for five years in the crane manufacturing sector before getting his doctorate and returning to academia.

Now, his days of wearing a sports jacket, shirt, and tie are mostly behind him. Sporting a polo shirt and sneakers, Caron quickly flagged ways he wants to chart the school’s nautical future. He may still be getting his feet wet, but he excitedly lists what The Landing School can do through strategic planning.

“We have to diversify our revenue stream so our business model is more sustainable,” he said. “Like a lot of schools today, we can’t depend only on tuition. We need a strategy. The days of throwing spaghetti against the wall don’t exist. You have to have a strategic plan.”

Caron wants to raise the school’s current endowment of $1.3 million. “The board members would like to put the school on a long-term sustainable path,” he said. To do that, Caron and his staff will look at tuition costs, fundraising, grants, and foundations.

He plans to streamline the school’s admissions process, expand the number of scholarships, and recruit women as full-time faculty members. He wants to recruit alumni as volunteers and mentors and hold reunions for them. “What would help you stay connected? What drew you to this place?” Those are the questions he’s asking.

“We’ve really got to get enrollment where it used to be,” he continued, with 60 to 80 students, compared with this fall’s 32 students. Courses are taught from September to May at the school, which is well known in the marine industry nationally and internationally. This year’s class hails from the United Kingdom, Canada, and Bermuda as well as from coast to coast in this country. Tuition is $27,000, and as an accredited school, students are eligible for financial aid.

The new president and his team also are putting together a marketing strategy to leverage data analytics to measure performance. And Caron is looking beyond The Landing School’s academic calendar. “One of my goals is to rekindle the summer program to tap into the local summer community,” he said, envisioning summer workshops to build canoes, kayaks, and surfboards.

The full-time faculty of six graduates of the school, “have been hungry for strong leadership and (want) to take the school to the next level,” he said, asking, “What are the talents (new and current) faculty members can bring to the team that will challenge me and not tell me what I don’t want to hear so I can learn? I’m not an autocrat and I don’t manage from top-down. My leadership style is to listen and empower people for success.”

Caron and his wife moved to Kennebunkport five years ago when he was still working in academia. So why did he leave traditional universities to head up an untraditional boatbuilding and design school? “I wanted to come to The Landing School to apply my skills in a different setting and have impact,” he said.

While Caron puts a strategic vision in place, students are in the workshops and classrooms learning rigging, marine diesel and gas engines, propulsion, marine plumbing, atmospheric ovens, and vacuum infusion, or they’re designing yachts, among other skills.

“I’m having the best time of my life,” said Caron. “I get up in the morning excited to come to work. The experience the students have here is really nothing short of magic. We’re super excited. We’re going to skyrocket.” 

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Connie Sage Conner is a retired editor at The Virginian-Pilot. She and her husband cruise on their Kadey-Krogen, Epilogue, with their two cats. They live in Harpswell, Maine.

The Landing School
286 River Road
Arundel, ME
207-985-7976
landingschool.edu